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A search didn't return much, anyone else have an interest in the TR5T ?

HJ56669.



HJ56569.

Hi Les---yes--me!
I have a 73 (yellow tank) and a 74 (red tank like yours).
One of my favorite bikes for local journeys---low geared, easy to start, and easy to handle in traffic.
Only fault IMHO (I use mine mainly on road) is the front brake---virtually useless.
I am currently building up a 8" conical front hub into a 21" rim to improve the front braking--this will go on the 73. Hope this will solve the problem.
Should fit straight in as the BSA B50 uses the same front fork but has the 8" conical a the plate anchor is there already.

Looks like a nice bike from here,
If you could just get Kenny Dreer or Roland Sands to re-design the muffler . Good to go.

Two bikes I think--different numbers and one with flashers--one without etc.

have an interest....none for sale at reasonable prices though!

Yes, one day I would really like to own one of these machines :bigt

I'm currently working on a '73 belonging to my son, and pretty soon I'll be starting a thread and asking some questions. This is the first 500 twin I've worked on, and I'm finding it somewhat different from the 650 and 750 engines (which I'm sure is no surprise to you Triumph aficionados).

Hi Les,
My two TR5Ts are:
--- 1973 PH 20611 Manufactured in November 1972---a 1973 model (yellow gas tank).
--- 1974 HJ 56655 Manufactured in July 1974---a 1974 model (red gas tank).
My 74s number is very close to your two--yet they end up on opposite sides of the world!
Regards,
Richard (Beard) aka Tridentman

Just to complete the picture--here is my 73


Matching #s PH 20611
and this is my 74

Matching #s HJ 56655
Many thanks to Les for the help in posting the photos.
Nearly bought another 73 TR5T a couple of days ago.

Currently on the lookout for a TR5T in the UK some nice bikes in this post maybe you could repatriate a couple??

Hey TridentMan, that 73 TR5T looks familiar! Hope you are enjoying the bike.
Cheers,
Jim

All good Richard.
HJ56669 is very close in number to your 74 and since it came from the USA I have a hunch the two bikes may have been in the same consignment.
One thing odd about it and I notice your 74 looks to be the same is the muffler.
The short end version came on the 73 model but both look to have that muffler.
The 'patina on mine seems to match the bike, perhaps they used what was on the shelf at times like rims (Dunlop or Jones)

I looked for a Krizman spark arrestor for a long time then this one came up locally as NOS for the princely sum of $28.



It might be BSA though by the part number.

Hi Rich,

The '73 has a much longer kick starter than the latter.

Reason being?

Nice Bikes.

Hi Jim--good to hear from you--yes-enjoying the 73 TR5T very much thank you--it has become one of my favorite bikes.
Les--both of mine have short extensions at the end of the muffler.
I did get one of the genuine spark arrestors in a box of bits with the 74 but have not fitted it yet. I understand that they are as rare as hens teeth.
Not sure about the length of the kick start levers. They are as I bought them--neither have been changed. Interestingly it looks as though Les's two 74s have different levers--one short, one long.
Not sure why there is a variation--although by then the factory was on its last legs and I guess fitting anything that was lying around in order to get complete bikes out of the door.
I will say that the long lever on my 73 certainly makes it an easy starter--it almost fires up as soon as my boot gets near the lever!

Funny how bikes suddenly become popular. I always thought the TR5T was a superb package for it's particular market. As we all know, just too little, too late.
Only 3 years ago Bill Little had two for sale well under 4k, now all you can see are wrecks:

http://yeomansmotorcycles.com/tri/bikes/tri_ba/tri_ba.html

There used to be a site for these bikes - but I see it has been taken down.

Hi Richard,


I think that's it, the 'short' kickstarts appear to be standard 500, the 'long' ones T140 or T150? It's possible they were fitted with anything when new but steady production appears to have been planned - John Healy has related in the past how the stash of 500 spares that were widely-available well into the 1980's were the components for the batch of TR5T's planned to follow the T100D's 'til the sit-in and removal of essential tooling to Small Heath orphaned the 500's. The longer kicksarts might be simple p.o. preference?

Regards,

Yes--I know it was a bit of a confused mess at that time.
Batches of components were held by suppliers because previous batches had not been paid for and alternatives were fitted just to get bikes out of the door and get cash coming in. So the variants may well have been factory fitted.
OR it may have been POs preferences.
With these bikes now being over 40 years old I guess we may never now have definitive answers.
But thanks for your input, Stuart--appreciated.

Be interesting to see where this one goes. Just under £4k with 6 days to go right now:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/2717...geo=1&vectorid=229508&rmvSB=true

Hmmmmn!--looks pretty neat and tidy.
But--missing flashers and wrong muffler (silencer).
Price is already above what it would fetch in US.
As you say--be interesting to see what price it ends at.

£4,633 I decided not to bid as I want one in better condition to be honest......but I was tempted!!

That price would be about $7K in US.
I would expect a TR5T in that condition to sell for $4-5K in US.
So the old adage seems to apply.
What it sells for in US in dollars it costs in UK in pounds!

I don't understand why the seller is billing that as a TR5T - it's not in a TR5T frame, and he calls the engine a Daytona engine - the TR5T engine was not the same as a Daytona engine. If the engine is truly a Daytona engine, I would think that and the frame (Rickman?) would be selling points.

For a racing bike, the main issue is not typically originality, but rather how it runs, and what sort of performance goodies are in it. But the seller doesn't say much of anything about that.

That being said, for someone who wants an original or close to original TR5T, this ain't it.

Mark--the auction for the TR5T has finished and EBay are suggesting something else (the Metisse) as an alternative. When you click on the link look at the top and then click on the TR5T and it takes you to the original TR5T ad.
It certainly looks like a genuine TR5T to me.
HTH

Wow! That sure makes my sweet little TR5T look sweeter.